Fwd: Godzilla Symposium

Aaron Gerow aaron.gerow
Thu Nov 18 11:13:31 EST 2004


GODZILLA IN NEW YORK
Fall 2004-Spring 2005
Columbia University
For immediate release

What better occasion to assess the unique legacy of Japanese monster
movies (kaiju eiga) than the fiftieth anniversary of Godzilla's debut
on celluloid?? Toho Corporation has itself announced that it will
discontinue production of Godzilla movies after this year.? Films
featuring Godzilla and his fellow monsters are the first Japanese
cultural product to have won a truly global audience, bulldozing a
path that, more recently, such East Asian pop-culture goods as Pok?mon,
Hong Kong action cinema, and anime (Japanimation) have followed.? The
Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture and the Weatherhead East Asian
Institute of Columbia University are pleased to present a series of
programs to commemorate this special occasion.?? All events are free
and open to the public.

The program's highlight is a day-long symposium titled "Global
Fantasies:? Godzilla in World Culture," which will be held on December
4th, 2004, from 9:30AM to 5:30PM, on the Morningside Campus of
Columbia University.? The location of the event is Altschul
Auditorium, Room 417, International Affairs Building, near the corner
of Amsterdam Avenue and 118th Street.? A wide range of speakers,
representing diverse academic disciplines and institutions, will
discuss the larger cultural and historical significance of the
Godzilla phenomenon from the 1950s through the present day.? The order
of speakers is as follows:

9:30AM-9:45AM

Opening Remarks
Prof. GREGORY PFLUGFELDER (Columbia University)

9:50AM-10:35AM

"Wrestling with Godzilla:? Manga Monsters, Puroresu, and the National
????? Body"
Prof. AARON GEROW (Yale University)

10:40AM-11:25AM

"Godzilla vs. the (Colonial) Thing"
Prof. YOSHIKUNI IGARASHI (Vanderbilt University)

11:30AM-12:15PM

"The Heirs of King Kong:? The Godzilla Cycle and Transnational
????? Image Flows"
Professor Gregory Pflugfelder (Columbia University)

12:15PM-1:30PM

Lunch Break
Walking Tour of the "Godzilla Conquers the Globe" Exhibit

1:30PM-2:15PM

"The Slimy Sublime:? H-Man and the Anxiety of Prosperity"
Prof. ALAN TANSMAN (University of California-Berkeley)

2:20PM-3:05PM

"Godzilla Mon Amour:? Understanding Why and How We Love the King
????? of the Monsters"
Prof. WILLIAM TSUTSUI (University of Kansas)

3:10PM-3:55PM

"Post-Godzilla Monsterology in an Age of Information, Virtuality,
????? and Techno Intimacy"
Prof. ANNE ALLISON (Duke University)

4:00PM-5:30PM

"The Specter of Anticommunism:? Yongary, Monster from the Deep"
Prof. THEODORE HUGHES (Columbia University)


Running simultaneously with the symposium, an exhibition titled
"Godzilla Conquers the Globe:? Japanese Movie Monsters in
International Film Art," may be viewed in Columbia's C. V. Starr
East Asian Library.? This first-of-its-kind exhibit traces the
origins of the kaiju eiga genre in earlier forms of popular
representation and commercial culture in Japan, as well as
exploring the transformation of Godzilla imagery as it traveled
across the globe during the latter part of the twentieth century.
The exhibit is on display in the Main Reading Room of the Starr
Library in 300 Kent Hall, near the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and
116th Street, until December 2004.? It may also be viewed online
at www.columbia.edu/cu/ealac/dkc/godzilla/.

In Spring 2005, a film series titled "Godzilla for Thinking People"
will be held in the Roone Arledge Auditorium of Alfred Lerner Hall
at Broadway and 115th Street.?? Dates and times will be announced
at a later date.

For further information about these events, please visit the Donald
Keene Center website at www.columbia.edu/cu/ealac/dkc or call
212-854-5036.? For Starr Library hours, please call 212-854-2271.
In order to view the entire "Godzilla Conquers the Globe" exhibit in
person, it is recommended to visit during morning hours and to call
in advance.? The Starr Library requests that those viewing the
exhibit refrain from photography, cell-phone use, bringing in food
or beverages, and loud conversation.

Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture
Columbia University
9 November 2004


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Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture
Columbia University
507 Kent Hall
New York, NY 10027
T:212-854-5036/ F:212-854-4019
W: www.columbia.edu/cu/ealac/dkc
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